Picasso stolen from Brazilian museum

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Thieves broke into Sao Paulo's
leading art museum before dawn on Thursday and stole two oil
paintings, including one by Pablo Picasso that could be worth
some $50 million.

Picasso's 1904 "Portrait of Suzanne Bloch" -- from the
Spaniard's Blue Period -- and Brazilian painter Candido
Portinari's 1939 "The Coffee Worker" were among the Art Museum
of Sao Paulo's most important exhibits, the museum said in a
statement.

The thieves probably specifically targeted the paintings,
which were on display in separate rooms on the second floor, it
said.

"We believe that this has the hand of some collector, for
his private use," Marcos de Moura, who is heading the police
investigation, told a news conference. "This was a professional
job, nothing amateur."

Three thieves broke through the main door of the museum
just after 5 a.m., then smashed another glass door while an
accomplice kept watch outside, de Moura said. They spent only
three minutes inside the building.

There was no alarm on either door. Security cameras filmed
the break-in but not the exact moment when the paintings were
lifted from the walls, he said.

None of the thieves wore a hood, he added.

The museum said it would be closed for the next few days
and asked Brazil's Foreign Ministry and the international
police agency Interpol for help.
Continued...